Hydraulic vise



Nov. 30, 1954 Filed Dec. 5, 1952 c. E. GRUENINGER 2,695,539

HYDRAULIC VISE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

CARL E. GRUENINGER A OR/YEK Nov. 30, 1954 c. E. GRUENINGER 2,695,539

HYDRAULIC VISE Filed Dec. 5, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 11 TZOR/VEK Nov. 30,1954 c. E. GRUENINGER 2,695,539

HYDRAULIC VISE Filed Dgc. 5, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. 87 86CARLE. GRUENI NGER A 0E/YEK United States Patent Office 2,695,539Patented Nov. 30, 1954 HYDRAULIC VISE Carl E. Grueninger, Milwaukee,Wis.

Application December 5, 1952, Serial No. 324,377

2 Claims. (Cl. 81-17.2)

The invention relates to tools and more particularly to vises and hasfor its general object the provision of a novel vise with improved meansfor creating hydraulic pressure to force the movable jaw of the visetoward a stationary jaw and in which the clamping action upon the workis brought about.

Another object of the invention is to provide a vise in which theworking parts are operated hydraulically, and are of simple and ruggedconstruction.

The invention has for a further object to provide a hydraulic vise of asimple design whereby pressure on a ram type piston forces a movable jawtoward a stationary jaw, and compresses a spring which, upon the releaseof hydraulic pressure, will expand to automatically separate the jaws.

To the attainment of the foregoing and other objects and advantages, theinvention preferably consists in the details of construction and thearrangement and combination of parts, to be hereinafter more fullydescribed, claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure l is a top plan View of the vise.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the vise.

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal cross-section through the vise,taken at the line 3--3 in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an end view in cross-section, taken at the line 4-4 inFigure 3.

Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the vise assembled with the novelmounting bracket.

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the mounting bracket, and

Figure 7 is a side elevational view of the mounting bracket.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 10, designatesa suitable support, such as a bench, a table or the like, upon which thebracket 11 is mounted and onto which the vise 12 is temporarilypositioned.

The vise itself which may be conveniently formed as a casting includes abase 13 having a pair of flanges 14 provided with slots 15 forengagement with pins 16 associated with the bracket member 11, the baseand the flanges being tapered at opposite ends 17 and 18 for mountingthe vise in locked engagement with the tapered recesses in the bracketas referred to by numerals 19 and 20. Associated with the base 13 andsecured thereto with any suitable fastening elements 35 is thestationary jaw column 21 having an integral tubular guide shank 22 and ajaw 23.

Slidably mounted on the tubular shank 22 is the base column 24 of amovable jaw retaining member 25 having a jaw member 26 adapted tocooperate with the jaw 23.

One end portion of the shank 22 is hollow, as shown in Figure 3, toprovide an oil chamber 27 which is to be partially filled with oil, andfrom this chamber leads a cylindrical bore or passage 28 which is closedby a threaded plug 29 as illustrated in Figure 4.

One end of the lower section of column 24 is hollow, as shown in Figure3, to provide a chamber 30 which is to retain one end 31 of a coilspring 32. The other end 33 of the spring being engaged in a recess 34formed in the lower part of column 21. One end of the upper section ofcolumn 24 is also hollow as shown in Figure 3, to provide a chamber 36in which the free end 37 of a hydraulic plunger shown as 38, is freelyaccommodated. The other end of the plunger 38 is movable within anopen-end tube which forms a piston chamber 39 and is welded to aremovably mounted plate 43, the plunger 38 having a suitable packing 40and a retaining washer 41 held thereon at its extreme end by a fasteningelement shown as a screw 42.

The piston chamber 27 is associated with the removable plate 43, whichis provided with a recess 44 forming one end of the oil chamber 27, andshown held in place by bolts 45. The open end of the tube forming thepiston chamber 39 confronts the movable jaw chamber 36, and its oppositeend is provided with an end closure 46 having an inlet passage 47 and anoutlet passage 48, the tube being welded or attached in any otherconvenient manner to the removable plate 43. A pressure relief valve 49is mounted in an aperture 50 in the upper portion of the plate 43adjacent the piston chamber 39 and has a knurled head 51 for fingergripping manual operation, and a shank 52 and associated tapered needlevalve 53. The valve 53 is utilized to open passage 48 for flow of fluidfrom passage 48 to a return passage 54. Suitable packing 55 may be usedto prevent any leakage through aperture 50.

The end closure 46 isbored and threaded for holding a plug 56 inthreaded engagement therewith, with the inner end of said plug recessedto provide a relatively large axial passageway 57 and a smaller diameterpassageway 58 whereby the passageway 57 may mount a valve ball 59 whichopens inwardly permitting communication between passages 57 and 58 andalso with a radial passageway 60 which extends through the plug 56 so asto register with the inlet passageway 47.

The numeral 61 designates a pumping mechanism having a plunger 62movable within an enlarged pump 63 in a casing 93 integral with themember 43. The upper end of the plunger 62 moves freely through anapertured closure or threaded tap 64, threadedly engaged with the member43 as illustrated in Figure 4. A suitable packing 65 prevents leakagebetween the plunger 62 and the apertured closure 64. A passageway 66connects the pump 63 with passage 28. Flow of fluid from passage 28through passageway 66 and into the pump cylinder 63 is controlled byvalve ball 67 which moves inwardly. The upper end of the plunger 62extends outward through the threaded plug 64 and is forked at 68 andconnected to an operating lever 69 by means of a pin 70 with one end ofthe lever being pivotally carried by a link 71 connected to a bracket 72integral with the casing 93 of the pumping mechanism. Any suitableconnecting means may be used for connecting link 71 to bracket 72 andthe lever 69 with the link 71 as designated by numerals 73 and 74respectively.

The exterior surface of the closure 46 is partially knurled to form ahand grip in cooperation with a front holder 75, which may be heldfirmly in association with column 21 through the medium of a threadedend 76 inserted in a threaded aperture 77 formed in the column 21.

The mounting bracket 11 comprises a base 78 having the tapered recesses20 at one end, and enlarged depending section 79 at the other end, withthe end 79 being bored and threaded to hold a threaded stem 80 formovement therein. The free end of the stem 80 has a collar 81 having anaperture in which a lever 82 may be held. Interposed between thethreaded section of stem 80 and collar 81 and adjacent the collar 81 isa base engagement or collar 89 which engages the tapered recess 17.Integral with the base 78 is a column 83 which is engaged in anadjustable bracket 84 which may be secured to the column 83 through themedium of a lever 85 and a screw 86 arrangement which is employed toreadily draw together separable ends 87 forming a part of the bracket84. Integral with the separable ends is an extension 88 which may bereadily connected or attached to the bench 10.

The operation of this device is as follows: When it is desired to movethe movable jaw column 24 toward the stationary jaw column 21, the lever69 of the pump mechanism is moved upwardly whereby the plunger 61 israised creating a vacuum in the pump cylinder 63 and sucking the oilfrom the oil chamber 27 into the passage 28 where the oil flows intopassage 66 past the raised ball valve 67 and into the pump cylinder. Asthe lever is moved downwardly, the plunger 61 moves downwardly in thepump cylinder forcing the ball valve 67 onto its seat and forcing theoil out of the pump cylinder 63 into passageway 47 and then into passage60, passage 58, past ball valve 59 and into enlarged opening 57 and intothe chamber 39. As the actuation of the pump continues, greater amountsof oil are forced into the chamber 39 until suflicient pressure has beenbuilt up to force the hydraulic piston 38 forward and accordingly pushthe movable column 24 toward the stationary column 21. As the jaws 23and 24 move toward clamping position, the spring 32 is compressed andexerts a force tending to move the column 24 away from column 21. Thisis inelfective while the greater hydraulic force is being exerted. Whenit is desired to unclamp the work, the knurled relief valve head 51 ismanually rotated, raising the needle valve 53 out of its seat andopening passageway 48 to passage 54. The oil thereupon flows from thechamber 39 through passage 48 into passage 54 and back into the oilchamber 27. The pressure built up in the chamber 39 is loweredsufficiently below the force exerted by compressed spring 32 whereby thecolumn 24 is forced away from column 21 by the expansion of the spring32.

Some times it is desirable to remove the vise with a work piece clampedbetween the jaws from one machine to another. This is readilyaccomplished by manually operating the lever and screw device designatedby the numerals 82 and 80, respectively, whereby the collar 89- may bereadily disengaged from base 13.

There may be instances when it is desirable to use different types ofjaws 23 and 26 respectively. Substitution of jaws are readily carriedout by providing locking mechanism as designated by jaw supports 90 and91 held in the column 21 and 24 respectively by any suitable fasteningelements 92 whereby by simple manual manipulation of the fasteningmeans, substitution of the jaws may be made.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed, it should be understood that thedisclosure is merely anexemplification of the principles involved, as the right is reserved tomake all such changes in the details of construction as will widen thefield of utility and increase the adaptability of the device, providedsuch changes constitute no departure from the function of the inventionor the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent in the United States is:

1. A vise including a fixed and a movable jaw column,

said fixed column provided with an extension having a longitudinallyextending bore closed at one end and said fixed column having a recessadjacent said extension, said movable column being slidable along saidextension and having oppositely disposed openings at each end, an endplate closing the open end of said extending bore and providing meansfor mounting a piston and cylinder, the free end of said piston beingmovable within one of said oppositely disposed openings for moving saidmovable jaw column toward said fixed jaw column, and a spring, saidspring having one end mounted within the other of said oppositelydisposed openings and its other end extending into said recess, saidspring causing said movable jaw column to move away from said fixed jawcolumn.

2. A vise including a fixed and a movable jaw column, said fixed columnprovided with an extension having a longitudinally extending bore closedat one end and said fixed column having a, recess adjacent saidextension, said movable column being slidable along said extension andhaving oppositely disposed openings at each end, an end plate closingthe open end of said extending bore and providing means for mounting apiston and cylinder, said bore comprising an oil chamber, said cylindercommunieating with said oil chamber, a pump, said pump forcing oil fromsaid chamber to said cylinder for exerting pressure against said piston,the free end of said piston being movable within one of said oppositelydisposed openings for moving said movable jaw column toward said fixed,jaw column, and a spring, said spring having one end mounted within theother of said oppositely disposed openings and its other end extendinginto said recess within said fixed column, said spring causing saidmovable jaw column to move away from said fixed jaw column,

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 978,067 Schwanengel Dec. 6, 1910 2,308,099 Obecny Jan. 12,1943 2,313,348 Kvapil Mar, 9, 1943 2,565,999 Teglas et al, Aug. 28, 1951FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 591,756 Great Britain Aug. 27, 1947

